THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
ASRC/ConocoPhillips Great Alaska Shootout
Alaska Airlines Center (5,000) - Anchorage, Alaska
(All times Alaska Standard)
Friday, Nov. 22 - First Round
5:15 pm: North Dakota State (2-1) vs Vermont (3-2)
7:30 pm: Troy (1-4) vs Alaska Anchorage (6-1)
Saturday, Nov. 23
6:15 pm: NDSU/UVM loser vs Troy/UAA loser (3rd place)
8:30 pm: NDSU/UVM winner vs Troy/UAA winner (champ.)
 
TICKETS: GoSeawolves.com
LIVE VIDEO: All games free at youtube.com/UAASeawolves
LIVE STATS: GoSeawolves.com/sidearmstats/wbball
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2024-25 stats)
G—Emilia Long, 5-9, Sr. (12.7 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 4.1 apg, 4.9 spg, .513 FG)
G—Elaina Mack, 5-8, Jr. (17.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.8 spg, .429 FG, .418 3FG)
F—Jaisa Gamble, 6-0, Sr. (8.3 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.9 spg, .451 FG, .818 FT)
F—Ashlyn Rean, 6-2, Fr. (8.1 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.9 apg, 2.3 spg, .585 FG)
C—Hedda Koehne, 6-1, Jr. (8.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.1 bpg, .510 FG, .700 FT)
 
SHOOTOUT TRADITION RETURNS: The Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team aims for its ninth ASRC/ConocoPhillips Great Alaska Shootout title this week with contests against a pair of NCAA Div. I teams in the 41st edition of the storied women's tournament ... UAA opens Friday at 7:30 p.m. against Troy, and  faces either North Dakota State in Saturday's final round.
 
KNOW THE FOES: All three visiting teams won at least 22 games and advanced to the WNIT last season, with Troy and Vermont each making the WNIT semifinals ... Troy has gone 1-4 against a tough schedule thus far, including losses to nationally ranked Alabama and LSU, and a road victory over Chattanooga (76-66) ... runners-up in the Sun Belt Conference preseason poll, the Trojans are led by Ashley Baez (12.8 ppg, .471 3FG) and Zay Dyer (11.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 1.4 bpg) ... North Dakota State has split its two contests against D-I opponents, falling to Drake (84-78) and beating Eastern Illinois (65-56) ... picked third in the Summit League, the Bison are led by Avery Koenen (13.0 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 2.7 spg, .500 FG) and Molly Lenz (10.0 ppg, .500 FG) ... Vermont opened with a 62-46 victory over SEC program Missouri, and has suffered its two losses to top-caliber competition, falling at Minnesota (74-52) and at home to Providence (58-53) ... picked third in the America East poll, the Catamounts are led by Anna Olson (15.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.2 apg, .635 FG) and Keira Hanson (10.2 ppg, .529 3FG).
 
THE SERIES: UAA has never played Troy or Vermont ... North Dakota State leads the head-to-head series 3-1, with UAA's lone win coming 73-47 in the 2012 Shootout ... the first three meetings occurred between Dec. 1990 and Dec. 1994 when NDSU was an NCAA Div. II program.
 
KEEPING IT DISCRETIONARY: Both of UAA's games in the
Shootout will be played under the NCAA's discretionary exhibition rule, which allows the contests to be counted for the Div. I opponent while being an exhibition for the Seawolves.
 
SEAWOLVES AT THE SHOOTOUT: In 1990, the Seawolves became the first Div. II women's team to win a tournament against all-Div. I competition, repeating their feat at the 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2017 and 2022 Shootouts ... the first title came when the tournament featured eight teams and was known as the Northern Lights Invitational; the subsequent championships have come under the current 4-team format … the Seawolves are 40-58 all-time in the Shootout and 20-22 since the current format began in 1999 ... the Seawolves own 38 regular-season wins against 34 different NCAA Div. I programs.
 
CALIFORNIA RECAP: UAA finished a string of five straight games in California by going 2-1 in SoCal last week ... UAA suffered its first loss of the season against fellow NCAA Tourney contender Point Loma, 66-64, on Friday in San Diego, as the Sea Lions scored the winning layup with 7.1 seconds left ... Sr. G Jazzpher Evans led UAA with 18 points and Jr. G Elaina Mack tallied 13 points, but the Seawolves were hurt by a 29-12 foul differential ... on Saturday, UAA set school and GNAC records with a 139-22 blowout of non-NCAA foe Stanton in Irvine ... eight of the 10 Seawolves scored double figures against the Elks, led by 21 points from Sr. C Tori Hollingshead as UAA accounted for 15 school records in the blowout ... on Monday, UAA returned to form against a fellow D-II program, blasting Biola 91-36 behind 17 points from Evans and 11 points, 9 rebounds from Fr. F Ashlyn Rean ... the Seawolves set yet another school record against the Eagles by holding a D-II opponent to just 10 second-half points.
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA leads the GNAC stats in 12 categories, including scoring defense (40.3), rebound margin (+22.4), turnover margin (+19.0) and steals per game (20.6) ... in the NCAA Div. II national stats, UAA is No. 1 in turnover margin, along with top-10 ranks in scoring defense (2nd), steals (2nd), scoring margin (2nd), rebound margin (3rd), A/T ratio (6th, 1.48), scoring offense (6th, 91.6 ppg), offensive rebounding (7th, 21.9) and TO forced (8th, 31.4) ... UAA set or tied nine team records in its two games against Simpson to open the season, including fewest points allowed in half (4) and a quarter (0) ... the Seawolves accounted for 15 more school records with their 139-22 blowout of Stanton, including largest margin, most points, and largest halftime lead (79-7).
 
MACK ATTACK: Jr. G Elaina Mack has started the year a blazing pace, scoring at 10 points in each game and ranking 5th in the GNAC with 17.7 ppg ... the King Cove native holds additional GNAC ranks in 3FG% (12th, .418), 3FGs per game (2nd, 4.0) and steals (15th, 1.9), while her 3FG mark also stands 8th nationally ... boosted by seven treys in the Nov. 2 win over Simpson, Mack now stands 5th on UAA's career list for 3FGs per game at 1.90, along with career ranks of 13th in 3FGs made (112, needs 13 to move into top 10) and 3FG% (14th, .363).
 
'HEAD BANGER: UAA's lone representative on the 2024-25 Preseason All-GNAC Team, Sr. C Tori Hollingshead has accounted for double-figure scoring in five of seven games and at least five rebounds in all but one contest so far ... the Orem, Utah, native and former Umpqua (Ore.) CC transfer ranks 10th in rebounding (6.1 rpg), 10th in FG% (.533), 14th in blocks (0.7) and 16th in steals (1.9) in the early league stats, boosted by an 11-point, 9-rebound effort in the win over Cal Poly Humboldt ... Hollingshead's 57 career blocks rank 14th all-time at UAA and are just five shy of reaching the top 10 on that list.
 
LONG GAME: The Seawolves have new floor general this year in Sr. G Emilia Long, who currently ranks 4th nationally and leads the GNAC with 4.9 steals per game ... after recording 21 points and a school-record 11 steals in the season opener against Simpson, Long helped power the winning 17-0 run against Jessup with 8 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals ... she enters this week 13th in the GNAC in scoring (12.7 ppg), 6th in assists (4.1 apg) and A/T ratio (1.7), and 12th in FG% (.513) ... originally from Port Angeles, Wash., and a former JC star at Peninsula College, Long was the 2023-24 CCAA Newcomer of the Year in both soccer and basketball at Cal Poly Humboldt, prior to transferring to UAA.
 
ALL THAT JAZZ: UAA's most experienced player, Sr. G Jazzpher Evans (four years at UAA/2020-21 Covid season at Quincy) has leant a steady hand thus far, tallying 11.7 ppg and 3.3 apg ... the Chicago native has scored double figures in the last three games (15.3 ppg), and now stands within reach of the 1K mark with 975 career points ... in the early GNAC stats, Evans is 12th in assists, 7th in A/T ratio (1.7), 17th in scoring, 19th in FG% (.471) and 14th in 3FG% (.381).
 
FOREIGN BLOCKADE: The Seawolves have found success in the international route, getting huge major contributions from newcomers Ashlyn Rean (Rangiora, New Zealand) and Hedda Koehne (Lette, Germany) on the interior ... after joining the Seawolves as a redshirt in January, Rean has debuted this fall with three double-figure scoring efforts, including 16 points (7-12 FG) in the win over Cal Poly Humboldt ... a 6-2 forward, Rean holds GNAC ranks of 6th in FG% (.585), 11th in rebounding (6.0 rpg), 9th in steals (2.3 spg) and 13th in assists (2.9 apg) ... meanwhile, Koehne is posting 8.1 ppg and 4.6 rpg, along with a GNAC-best 2.1 blocks per game (25th nationally) ... with five blocks against Jessup, Koehne joined Tori Hollingshead as one of just six Seawolves to swat that many against an NCAA Div. II opponent.
 
WINNING WAYS: UAA is a combined 156-29 – including 72-15 on the road – in GNAC regular-season and tournament games since Dec. 2014 ... the Seawolves have gone a combined 225-25 (.900) in the last 17-plus seasons on their home courts, including 116-15 (.886) at the Alaska Airlines Center (since 2014-15) ... UAA is 34-2 all-time against NCAA Div. II non-conference opponents at the Alaska Airlines Center in the regular season ... UAA's run of six straight GNAC regular-season titles is the longest of any basketball program – women's or men's – since the league was founded in 2001-02 ... the 2019-20 Seawolves earned the program's fourth 30-win season in five years, starting with an NCAA Div. II-record 38 victories in 2015-16 ... the Seawolves have produced 17 20-win seasons in 47 years of program history prior to this season ... the Seawolves have won 71 of their last 76 regular-season games against Div. II non-conference opponents ... UAA has 17 consecutive winning records and is seeking a 15th NCAA Tournament appearance in its last 18 full seasons ... the Seawolves have never failed to qualify for the GNAC Tournament, winning six of the 12 titles since the event started in 2011.
 
MASTER OF MAYHEM: Now in his 13th season at UAA and 14th overall as head coach in 2024-25, Ryan McCarthy stands No. 4 on the NCAA Div. II lists for both active winning percentage and all-time winning percentage at .798 (301-76) ... the winningest coach in UAA women's basketball history (287-63) since coming north in 2012, McCarthy has led the Seawolf program to unprecedented heights, capturing six straight GNAC regular-season titles (five outright) between 2015-20, four GNAC Tournament titles, eight straight NCAA Tournament berths (discounting the 2020-21 non-season), and ascending as high as No. 1 or No. 2 in the national rankings every season from 2014-15 through 2017-18 ... in 2019-20, McCarthy earned his fourth consecutive GNAC Coach of the Year honor and fifth in six seasons, and he was the WBCA NCAA Div. II West Region Coach of the Year three straight times from 2015-17 ... in 2016-17, the Anchorage native led UAA to its third straight top-2 regional seed and its second straight 30-win season (30-2), while recording the first 20-0 league record in GNAC history ... the previous season, McCarthy's crew set an NCAA Div. II record with 38 victories, advancing all the way to the 2016 National Title Game in Indianapolis ... his 2014-15 club claimed what was then the best winning percentage in program history with a 29-2 (.935) mark, sweeping both GNAC titles as well ... McCarthy led UAA to an improvement in overall wins (17, 19, 29, 38) his first four seasons and increased the Seawolves' GNAC victory total in each of his first five campaigns (11, 12, 17, 18, 20) … playing its up-tempo 'Mayhem' style, McCarthy's crews led the nation in steals per game for four straight seasons (2013-14 to 2016-17), while staying among the top 10 in steals each year through 2021-22 ... McCarthy served in an interim capacity at his alma mater Northwest Nazarene in 2010-11, leading an undermanned Nighthawks squad to a 14-13 mark … McCarthy is assisted by 13th-year associate head coach Shaina Afoa (the 2017-18 WBCA NCAA Div. II National Assistant Coach of the Year) and former UAA men's assistant Jalon McCullough (2nd season).
 
2024-25 SEAWOLF INDIVIDUAL HONORS
EMILIA LONG
GNAC Player of the Week, Oct. 28-Nov. 3
TORI HOLLINGSHEAD
Preseason All-GNAC Team